That explains a lot of the electoral college system. And it is a good retort to the sour grape argument of Clinton having more of the popular vote. Besides, those were the rules from the start. Nobody changed these rules halfway through the election.Great for her. That's like winning "Time of Possession" in a Football game, but losing the game.
Here's the thing- the rules influence the contest. Trump focused on his "Rust Belt" strategy because it gave him the best chance to win, and we now know it was very effective. Had the contest been based on the Popular vote, his strategy surely would have been different, Clinton's likely as well.
It also influences voters' behavior. How many republicans in California didn't bother to vote because they pretty much knew it was going to Clinton? Throw in 2 million more votes for Trump in California, Clinton still takes the state. You could make a similar argument in a state like Texas, with the parties reversed.
The decision won't be overturned, and there is no precedent to overturn it. Three other times in US history a President won the electoral college without winning the popular. In all three of those cases, the winner took the White House. Once, in 1824, it was thrown to the house.
The Electoral College won't be eliminated anytime soon, as that would likely require an amendment. I'm also at the point where I'm not sure it should be. The Electoral College and the Senate give a voice to smaller states. Should all policy in this country come from large cities? And depending on what kind of system you replaced it with, Hillary still might not be the winner. If you replaced this system with one that required a candidate win a majority of the popular vote, for example, there would have been no winner, and it would go to a runoff or whatever other mechanism was set up.
Just curious, are the electoral votes for each state a static number? Let's say California due to drought earthquake resulted in migration away to neighboring states, thereby reducing its population by 50%. Would California have roughly 50% less electoral votes?